Dominic Thiem reached the peak of his career in 2020 when he finally secured a Grand Slam title.
At the US Open that year, the Austrian dropped just one set en route to the final, where he met fifth seed Alexander Zverev.
Zverev, competing in his first major final, took a commanding two-set lead in the championship match and was closing in on a maiden Grand Slam triumph at 23 years of age.
In an astonishing turnaround, Thiem fought back to win the match, emerging victorious in a fifth-set tiebreak to hoist the famous trophy inside Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The title bout marked one of three Grand Slam finals from 2006 through 2020 that did not include one of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic, which Thiem recently revealed was problematic for him.
Dominic Thiem talks about winning the US Open title in 2020
When asked on the ‘Beyond Business Cast’ if he approached the 2020 US Open final with an underdog mentality, the now-retired 32-year-old responded: “The nervousness was already there before the match. I’d say that was part of the problem.
“For the first time, I wasn’t the underdog; it was against Sasha, and I’d say the final was 50/50.
“It was the first time for both of us not to be playing [a major final] against one of the all-time great legends.”
While it was Zverev’s first time in a Grand Slam final, Thiem had already suffered three near-misses on the biggest stages, having recorded a treble of runner-up finishes at majors after losses to Nadal and Djokovic.
- 2018 French Open: Lost to Nadal in the final
- 2019 French Open: Lost to Nadal in the final
- 2020 Australian Open: Lost to Djokovic in the final
“On the one hand, it’s always a bit of an excuse which makes you feel more relaxed when you’re not the favourite.
“Because, well, if you play well and lose, you still have the excuse of, ‘okay, it was against Nadal or Djokovic or Federer’. I think that was gone for both of us that day.
“He had a much better start and was leading by two sets. He had a flawless performance in the first two sets.
“But because it’s never the case that you can play at the top level for so long, I just kept hoping, ‘come on, give me something now’. He made a few mistakes, and luckily it eventually came about, and that helped me to become a bit more relaxed in the end.”
The Grand Slam finals without the ‘big three’ since 2006
The 2005 Australian Open final between Marat Safin and Lleyton Hewitt was the last Grand Slam final before an era emerged that would see three men dominate the major scene.
After that, almost every major final until 2024 consisted of either Federer, Nadal, or Djokovic, or a combination of the three.
During that time period, however, there were a number of unique occasions where the final match at one of tennis’s four biggest tournaments did not feature any of the three legends, the first of which came in 2014.
At the US Open that year, the final saw Marin Cilic go toe-to-toe with Kei Nishikori, after the two surprisingly won their respective semifinals against Federer and Djokovic.
Two years later, it happened again at Wimbledon, when home hope Andy Murray met Milos Raonic in the final.
After Zverev and Thiem’s clash in New York during the 2020 season, Nadal and Djokovic kept headlining Grand Slam finals until 2024, apart from the 2022 US Open, in which Carlos Alcaraz defeated Casper Ruud to win the title.
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